27. Stellan
STELLAN
Bryony stepped into the Blood King’s rooms with her hand still in mine.
I followed and waited for Harrowmere to reject me.
The door remained open. Warm light spread from two lamps beside a vast bed. Dark sheets had been turned back, a fire burned behind a metal screen and another door showed a bath lined with black stone.
My old rooms had returned without the dust, broken furniture or blood from the last night I used them. Harrowmere had repaired everything except the memories.
Bryony looked around once, then faced me. “Are you planning to stare at the furniture all night?”
“I haven’t stood in this room for a century. The last time I left it, Cecily was dead, half the court was injured and Edith was waiting with enough iron to keep me from returning. I expected Harrowmere to leave these rooms sealed even if every other chain opened.”
Her expression softened. “We don’t have to rush. I’m not pushing you into a bed that feels like another part of your prison. If being here is too much, we’ll go back to my room.”
“It isn’t too much. The rooms don’t feel the same, and I don’t want to go back.”
Bryony glanced at the bed. “Good. I had plans for that.”
I closed the door instead.
The lock settled with a solid click. Bryony’s gaze moved to my hand on the key, then back to my face. She didn’t step away when I approached.
“You said later,” I reminded her.
“It’s later.”
I caught her around the waist and kissed her. She opened for me at once, both hands sliding into my hair as I backed her against the door. The torn remains of my shirt caught between us. Bryony pulled the fabric apart and pushed it from my shoulders.
“I hated that shirt,” she said against my mouth.
“You could’ve mentioned it before three vampires cut holes in it.”
“I was busy.”
That was enough talking. I kissed her harder, lifting her until her legs closed around my hips. The red restraints stayed quiet under my skin. No chain stopped me carrying her across the room, and the freedom of it went straight to my cock.
Blood had dried along one side of her jumper and leggings. I set her on the edge of the bed and ran my hands over her arms, ribs and hips, checking for wounds I might have missed in the garden.
“Most of that belongs to the guards,” she said. “I’m not injured.”
“You’re covered in blood.”
“So are you.”
I looked towards the bath. “Then we deal with that first.”
Bryony caught my belt before I could move. “Don’t take long.”
I pulled her to her feet and led her into the next room.
Steam rose from a deep bath sunk into the floor. Harrowmere had left folded towels on a bench and filled the shelves with soap, oils and every other comfort denied to me while the chains held. I tested the water, found it hot and turned away from the taps. The court had done enough for one night.
I pulled Bryony’s bloodstained jumper over her head and worked the torn leggings down her hips. The ruined clothes dropped around her feet. She stepped out of them wearing the bra and black lace knickers Harrowmere had provided.
The bruises around her throat had darkened. I ran my thumb under the worst one without pressing.
“It looks worse than it feels,” she said.
“I’ll decide that after the blood is off you.”
She removed her bra and stepped towards the bath.
I lifted her into the water and followed. Red spread from our skin in thin clouds before disappearing into the drain. Bryony pushed my wet hair away from my face and examined the healed cuts around my throat.
“The collar did more damage than I realised.”
“It’s closed now.”
“That doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Her fingers moved to the red band at my wrist. “And I fucking hate these.”
I turned my arm and caught her hand. “You removed what you could without trading my will for it. I’ll take four blood cuffs over an oath that makes every choice yours.”
“I didn’t want that.”
“I know.” I brought her palm to my mouth. “That’s why I walked back into the garden.”
Bryony watched me for a moment. Water ran from her hair and down her breasts. “Was it only because I refused the Crown?”
“No.”
She deserved the full answer.
“I came back because leaving you with Adrian felt worse than the chains,” I said.
“At the boundary, I tried to tell myself I was returning for the court. You’re the heir, Adrian wants the Crown, and letting him take either would destroy everyone loyal to Harrowmere.
All of that was true, but you turned me around.
I pictured him putting his hands on you and knew I’d hate every free step I took without you. ”
Her thumb moved over my lower lip. “That’s dangerously close to being romantic.”
“Don’t spread it around.”
Her amusement faded. “I need you to understand one thing. I’m not a reward for making the decent choice. I want you, and I’m here because I decided to be. Treat this as payment, and I’ll throw you out of that enormous bed.”
“I don’t want payment. I want you to choose me when a locked gate isn’t forcing us into the same rooms. I want to show you the parts of Harrowmere that don’t try to drink your blood and see whether you still want me when leaving is easy.”
Bryony slid a hand around my neck. “I’m choosing you now. Stop trying to make tonight answer every question we’ll have when the doors open.”
I pulled her across my lap and kissed her.
The water shifted around us. Bryony settled over my thighs and kissed me until the remaining taste of blood disappeared. Her nipples pressed against my chest. I covered one breast and rubbed my thumb over the hard point while her hips moved against my cock.
My control lasted until she bit my lower lip.
I stood with her in my arms. Water ran from us as I carried her into the bedroom and lowered her onto the dark sheets. When she reached for me, I caught both wrists and pressed them above her head.
Her eyes darkened. Her legs opened wider, and she kept her wrists there when I released them.
I stripped off my wet trousers and drew her knickers down her legs. Bryony watched every movement, her gaze fixed on my cock as I moved over her. No iron stopped me from covering her body with mine.
I kissed her throat and worked lower. My mouth closed around one nipple while my hand travelled down her stomach. She arched into both touches, fingers tightening against the sheets.
I bit her nipple lightly. Her breath broke, and I gave the other breast the same attention until her hips lifted towards me.
I kissed down her stomach and settled between her thighs.
She was already wet. One slow stroke of my tongue sent her hands into my hair.
I caught one wrist, drew it above her head and held it there as I licked her again. Her free hand curled into my hair, but she stopped trying to set the pace. Her thighs opened wider under my shoulders.
I held her thighs apart and put my mouth back on her. The next stroke made her swear. I circled her clit with my tongue, kept the pressure steady and slid two fingers inside her.
Bryony’s back lifted from the bed as I worked my fingers deeper and found the place that made her cunt close around them.
Her thighs pressed against my shoulders. I held them open, sucked her clit and fucked her slowly with my fingers. Every sound grew louder. I watched pleasure strip away the control she kept around everyone else.
Her body tightened. I kept the same rhythm until she came against my mouth, shaking hard enough to pull at my hair.
I gave her one last slow lick and rose over her.
Bryony dragged me down for a kiss. She tasted herself on my mouth and made a quiet sound that stiffened my cock. Her legs closed around my waist, pulling me against the heat between them.
I positioned myself at her entrance and held still. Bryony rolled her hips, taking the head of my cock inside her.
The tight heat nearly broke what remained of my control. She rolled her hips again, and I sank deeper until her body held all of me. Her nails pressed into my back, the small pain slowing my first stroke.
I drew back and thrust again. Bryony met me without hesitation. The bed shifted under us as I found a pace that tightened her legs around my hips. I held her thigh high with one hand, braced the other beside her head and watched every response.
My name left her rough and breathless. I thrust harder, and she clenched around me, her nails digging into my back again.
On the next stroke, I lowered my mouth to her neck and let my fangs touch her skin. Her pulse raced against my lips.
“You want to bite me,” she whispered.
“I want everything.”
She tipped her head, exposing the place where her neck met her shoulder.
I caught the soft skin where her neck met her shoulder between my teeth. She cried out and tightened around my cock. I didn’t pierce her. I gave her the pressure of my fangs and the scrape of my tongue while I fucked her faster.
Bryony’s hand slid between our bodies. I caught it, laced our fingers together and pressed it into the mattress beside her head. Then I moved my other hand between us and rubbed her clit with my thumb.
She came again within seconds. Her body locked around me, and the force of it tore a curse from my mouth. I held her through every pulse and kept moving until my own release hit.
I buried my face against her neck and came deep inside her. Pleasure ran through me without a chain cutting it short. For the first time in a century, nothing iron dragged me away from the woman in my bed.
Bryony’s arms closed around my shoulders. I stayed over her until my breathing slowed, then shifted my weight and drew her against my side.
“That was worth opening the room for,” she said.
“The house doesn’t get credit, especially when its walls are smug.”
She laughed and pressed her face against my chest. The sound eased a tight place inside me that sex hadn’t touched.
I cleaned us with a warm cloth from the bath, pulled the sheet over her and returned to the bed. Bryony settled with one leg across mine. Her fingers traced the edge of the raven tattoo where one wing wrapped from my back across my ribs, then stopped at the red band around my wrist.
“Does it feel different in here?” she asked.
“The restraint?”
“Being back in your rooms.”
I looked at the fire, the closed door and the woman lying against me. “Yes. It doesn’t feel like the room I lost.”
“Good different or bad different?”
“Good.” I covered her hand with mine. “You’re here.”
Bryony lifted her head, red hair starting to dry around her face. “When the blood cuffs come off, you’ll be able to leave this estate whenever you choose. I don’t expect a promise because we’ve had sex, but I need to know you’ve thought beyond tonight.”
“I’ve thought about little else. I want to leave because I choose the direction, not because Adrian opens a gate to use me.
I want to see what has changed outside these walls.
None of that means leaving you. If the restraints vanished now, I’d kill Adrian and come back to this bed.
The rest of the world has waited a century. It can wait another night.”
“That’s inconvenient when I’m trying to remember you concealed half the truth, especially while you’re naked.” She traced the raven on my chest. “I don’t need a promise about the rest of our lives. I need honesty while we learn whether this survives outside a sealed court.”
“I don’t know what happens after Adrian falls. I want you beside me when we find out, and I’ll never use the Crown or your blood to keep you there.”
“Keep doing that, and your reputation may survive the romance.”
“Sleep. You’re exhausted, and the court will still be waiting when we wake.”
“There’s the bossy vampire.”
She kissed the middle of my chest and rested her cheek there. I listened to her breathing slow while the fire burned lower.
The first command reached the blood cuffs less than a minute later.
Red pain closed around both wrists and ankles. My body went rigid against the mattress. Bryony woke as I tore myself away from her and rolled onto the floor.
“Stellan?”
“Stay on the bed.”
Adrian’s blood pushed into the restraints.
Bring the heir to the Crown.
My right hand locked around the bedframe. The command pulled at every muscle in my arm, trying to make me reach for Bryony. I forced my fingers deeper into the carved wood until it cracked.
She moved to the far side of the mattress without wasting time on an argument. “Tell me what he ordered.”
“He wants you at the Crown.”
The restraints burned brighter. My legs tried to stand. I drove one knee into the floor and kept the other foot flat, using my own weight against the command.
Bryony wrapped the sheet around herself and reached the door. “Can he make you take me?”
“He can make me try.” My jaw tightened as my hand released the broken bedframe. “Lock yourself in the bath.”
“And leave you fighting this alone?”
“Bryony, move.”
She met my eyes, judged what she saw and went. The bath door shut behind her. The lock turned.
Without her in reach, Adrian’s command shifted towards the door. I caught the metal handle and held it closed from my side. Pain cut around my wrists as the blood cuffs fought to pull my arms apart.
“I’m not taking her anywhere,” I said.
Adrian couldn’t hear me. Harrowmere could.
White light filled the lock. The door became solid under my hand, sealed by the court rather than a piece of metal I might tear free.
The command struck once more and failed.
Red light faded from the cuffs. My body released so suddenly that I dropped against the door.
The bath lock opened, but Bryony waited until I spoke.
“It’s over.”
She came out with the sheet knotted over one shoulder and anger on her face. “How much control did he have?”
I pushed myself upright. “Enough to pull my body towards you, but not enough to silence me or make me hurt you. He worded the order as if taking you to the Crown would protect you, and the restraints recognised the destination. If he tries again with a stronger claim on the regency, I may have less time to resist.”
“He tried it because Lenora has the guards. He needs me crowned before the witnesses strip his authority.” Bryony threw my trousers at me. “We show the outer court Harrowmere’s memory and take that power away.”
“Adrian will have to answer in person or abandon his claim. He’ll choose the Crown if he can reach it.”
“Then we make sure he can’t. Get dressed.”
A deep bell rang beyond the sealed gate.
Once. Twice. A third strike shook the glass in the lamps.
I knew that signal. Every vampire who answered to Harrowmere knew it.
The witness room had opened.
Bryony was already reaching for her clothes. “Looks like Lenora beat us to it.”